Colin: It’s time for an 8-team College Football Playoff

The long-held belief about the college football regular season is that it’s the best in sports because every week matters leading up to Final Four selection.

Today in The Herd, Colin explained why that line of thinking is nothing more than a myth. The facts differ from the narrative. The NFL regular season ratings are significantly higher than college, and at this point in the year, only the Browns are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.

Colin observed that for the last month, only a handful of teams have been in serious contention for the four college final spots, with the large majority of FBS teams on the outside looking in. On most weekends, the college slate is packed with mismatches and blowouts, and one or two must see games if you’re lucky.

“There are 128 FBS teams, but by almost a month ago, we were down to about 6 with a chance to play for the national championship. Everybody else is either bad, or playing for the Alamo Bowl at best.”

It’s taken Colin a long time to come around to the idea, but he thinks one solution to the problem is expanding the college football playoff to 8 teams. The reason is simple. More games would matter, and more teams and fans are invested later into the season because they at least think they have a shot.

“By college football, and I’ve evolved on this, not allowing an 8-team playoff, by mid-October, it reduces the sport, outside of 6 teams, to chasing the Alamo Bowl, which no fan base wants. With an 8-team playoff in college football, 14 teams would still have a case, which means almost 20 games this weekend would have an impact.”

Colin explained why he finally saw the light, “I’ve been converted. Why? Because I don’t believe in being stubborn. I’m not a grudge holder. You don’t win with either. I don’t win with either.”

College football only allows 3% of its teams into the playoffs. Comparatively, the NFL allows 38% of its teams into their playoffs, and the NBA and NHL let in 53%.

By making the college football playoff so exclusive, Colin thinks it eliminates interest from fans who aren’t engaged because their team doesn’t have a prayer. It’s time for an 8-team playoff. It’s time to evolve.

If baseball can do it, college football should be able to get it done, too.

FS1 College Football Analyst Joel Klatt is against expanding the playoff past 4 teams, and joined the show before the season to explain why.